Malcolm X

Malcolm X and his view on white people

Malcolm X and his views on white people

“For the white man to ask the black man if he hates him, is just like the rapist asking the raped, or the wolf asking the sheep, ‘Do you hate me?’ The white man is in no moral position to accuse anyone else of hate!” (Malcolm X, Autobiography of Malcolm X, 1965)

Malcolm X (b.May 19, 1925; d.February 21, 1965) is also known as El-Hjaa Malik El-Shabazz, but he changed his name after he became a Muslim. Malcolm is best known as one of the most influential leaders in the African American liberation movement and a national figure as a human rights activist. He was a spokesman for the Nation of Islam where he was influenced by Elijah Muhammad and Marcus Garvey. Detractors accused him of preaching racism, black supremacy, and violence1 and today some people still think of him as a racist. In this essay we will look deeper into that particular allegation and answer the question posed, “Was Malcolm X really a racist?”
Early on in life Malcolm experienced racism from both white and black people. He was the fourth child of eight and happened to be born with the fairest complexion. Based on his fair skin color, Malcolm’s father, Earl, treated him better than his other sons.2 Malcolm had a difficult childhood as his father, Earl, was killed by the KKK and his family was left to suffer in poverty. Malcolm’s mother, Louise, was then institutionalized when suffering a complete breakdown after she was driven crazy by a white welfare agent, and the children were placed in separate households. Malcolm saw the ill fate of his parents’ lives and realized that racism was not only a serious problem for society, but for life as knew it.

Later on, Malcolm moved to Boston to live with his half-sister, Ella. He become attracted to the street life in the ghetto and began to drink, smoke and use drugs. Over time, Malcolm became a hustler known as Detroit Red because of his hair was bright red. He began to sell marijuana but soon became addicted to the drugs he is supposed to be selling which leads him to using harder drugs. At age 20 in 1946, he was caught and charged with burglary and was sentenced to ten years in prison.() It was in prison he experience dramatically transform his life. He stated that “I had sunk to the very bottom of the American white man’s society,” until “in prison I found Allah and…it completely transformed my life.”(
In prison he met the prisoner, Bimbi, who was a self-educated man whom greatly influenced Malcolm. He showed Malcolm the value of education and Malcolm begin to read again and study with Bimbi’s help.

Malcolm studied history and looked into the racism he experienced earlier in his life. He read about how white Americans had mistreated black Americans from slavery and how Western societies has used and abused non-whites over the centuries. He found out that there was compelling evidence of the white man’s evil nature. This led him to his conversion to Islam which offered him the possibility of redemption under Allah. With Islam he had a whole new perspective on race relations which guided him to a more understanding of racial problems. As Malcolm looked back into his past, he began to see all the white people who had done him harm, including the white policeman, judge and guards. He began to realize that it was not only he who had experienced racism but that black people in general were victims of racism.He accepted the truth of Islam and joined the Nation of Islam, led by Elijah Muhammad. He adopted the name “Malcolm X”, as X represents the unknown name of his African ancestors and their culture that had been lost during slavery.
After seven years reading and learning in prison, Malcolm walked out as a new man with totally new vision on the problem of racism. This radically new review on racism later explains his anti-white rhetoric and militant black separatism. After personal meetings with Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm became a minister for the Nation of Islam. Malcolm became an outstanding spokesman and attacked whites based on the color of their skin and stated that they could never do any good because their race was the devil race.
Although Malcolm and Elijah Muhammad both fought for black rights, they didn’t agree on how it would be carried out, showing the complexity of the race problem in America.
Later on, rumors concerning Elijah’s extreme immorality surfaced and he and his family saw Malcolm as a danger to Elijah’s authority. On November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Malcolm then commented on it as a case of “chickens coming home to roost.” Elijah Muhammad silenced and isolated him for ninety days. After that Malcolm started receiving death threats.
In 1964, Malcolm and his other brothers left the Nation of Islam. Malcolm then became a more political Black Nationalist and a more of an international philosopher. With his brothers he founded the Muslim Mosque Inc. which was an organization open to all blacks, regardless of faith. That same year Malcolm left for Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca under the name of Malik El-Shabazz, and was about to undergo another radical transform. He saw the color-blindness that Islam brought to society and his idea that the white man was the devil began to fade. He experienced great hospitality and brotherhood in the Holy Land from people of all colors, races, and nationalities. And his statement clearly demonstrated his change of mind.
“I am not a racist. I am against every form of racism and segregation, every form of discrimination. I believe in human beings, and that all human beings should be respected as such, regardless of their color.” (Malcolm X, Autobiography of Malcolm X, 1965)
Malcolm realized that the solution to the racial problems in America was in the mutual cooperation of both whites and blacks in educating and eliminating racism. He then began a different approach by telling black people to get rid of the “Negro” and to start reevaluating themselves as Africans in America.
Malcolm X’s views on white people changed radically throughout his life. When leaving Boston, he treated white people unjustly like they had treated him. During the prison time, he went through radical change where he become self-aware and put away his perspective on race. When he became influenced by Muhammad Elijah he got powerfully drawn to his claim that black people are the origin of good people but white are the devil. It was only after he left the Nation of Islam that his views toward white people softened. His trip to Mecca exposed him to people of all colors and he experienced the brotherhood of mankind, regardless of their skin color. So it seems that in his final days his views on white people were much more lenient than in his early years, so if he ever was a racist he certainly did not die as a racist.